BRT in limbo for renewal

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along the 15.9km route between Sathon and Rajapruek areas is now under uncertainty as the City Hall will be asking Bangkok commuters whether to continue its services or not.

Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang said in an interview that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) would let the public decide whether the services would be continued or not. This decision making would spend 15 days, starting on Tuesday, to survey 3000 respondents from 9 various groups including BRT customers, police officers and car owners among the few. The survey will be conducted by Kasem Bundit University and is expected to be complete this month.

The uncertainty of its renewal is caused by the annual 200-million-baht loss to the BMA due to poor support of the public. There are still more vehicles on the road compared to the 20,000 daily passengers of the system, said Pol Lt Gen Amnuay. Another issue is during peak hours, private vehicles take the BRT lanes, which interferes the purpose of the service.